Attention and Other Cognitive Deficits in Aphasia: Presence and Relation to Language and Communication Measures

Abstract

This study was designed to further elucidate the relationship between cognition and aphasia with a focus on attention abilities. Individuals with varying types and severity of aphasia and age- and education-matched healthy adults with no brain damage completed several formal measures of attention and other cognitive functions. The results accorded well with prior aphasia research identifying (a) attention and other cognitive deficirts in most but not all individuals with aphasia, (b) heterogeneity in the types and severity of cognitive symptoms among those with cognitive impairments, and, (c) potent associations between cognitive test results and language and communication measures.